Inside PCS

About the Theater

Portland Center Stage at The Armory (PCS) is the largest producing theater in Portland, Oregon, and is among the top 20 professional regional theaters in America. Established in 1988 as an offshoot of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, PCS became an independent theater in 1994 and has been under the leadership of Artistic Director Chris Coleman since May, 2000. PCS stages eleven major productions annually in two theaters located inside The Armory: the 590-seat U.S. Bank Main Stage and the 190-seat Ellyn Bye Studio. An affiliate of the League of Resident Theatres, Actor’s Equity Association and Theatre Communications Group, PCS produces a blend of classical, contemporary and premiere works in addition to its annual summer playwrights festival, JAW. In its home at The Armory, PCS has more than 9,000 season ticket holders and attracts an annual audience of nearly 150,000 theater-goers of all ages.

PCS also offers a variety of education and outreach programs for curious minds from six to 106, including discussions, classes, workshops and partnerships with organizations throughout the Portland metro area.

Portland Center Stage’s home since fall 2006 — The Armory — is the first historic rehabilitation on the National Historic Register, and the first performing arts venue to achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Platinum rating. The design includes efficient use of energy, water and building materials that lower operating expenses as well as the building’s impact on the environment.

Our Mission

Portland Center Stage inspires our community by bringing stories to life in unexpected ways.

Our Manifesto

Theater brings us together, to sit near one another, to hear stories, to lift our voices in song. Theater creates worlds like no others. Its immediacy cannot be duplicated. Its intensity cannot be matched. A playwright’s miraculous words, directed with insight and acted with passion, elicit laughter, sorrow, astonishment, enlightenment and inspiration. Suddenly, we are not alone.

At a time in our history when we all wonder how we can live together on this planet, our need for community feels more important than ever. When we gather in the theater, feelings are magnified, commonalities are illuminated, prejudices are challenged and our hearts are opened.

Theater is communal. An actor speaks a playwright’s words. Another answers. Dialogue begins; melody rises. The audience adds its own energy, rhythm, breath; harmony emerges—all of it entwining together in a shared experience of power and exhilaration.

PCS has joined with you in theatrical celebration for more than 29 years. When we opened our new venue at the Gerding Theater at the Armory, we promised a new vision, new energy, a new attitude and new work. Today, there is fire onstage, excitement in the building and high anticipation as we bring you magnificent writers of timeless stories. And each is offered with the vigor, verve and vitality you’ve come to expect at PCS.

Our History

PCS began as OSF Portland, the northern sibling of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. After years of planning and preparation, the company was successfully launched on November 12, 1988 with an opening night performance of Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House and a gala celebration. With Dennis Bigelow as Artistic Producer, the company grew steadily in its first four years, producing five to six shows each season at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. In the fall of 1992, Pat Patton was named Associate Artistic Director/Portland by OSF, and guided the company's growth for the next two seasons, its last as a branch of OSF.

In September 1993, after five successful seasons, the Festival’s Board of Directors approved a recommendation from its Portland ad hoc committee that the Portland branch become an independent theater company, starting with the 1994-1995 season. In the spring of 1994, Elizabeth Huddle was selected as Producing Artistic Director to oversee both the artistic and administrative sides of the company.

In May, 2000, Chris Coleman, co-founder and Artistic Director of Actor’s Express in Atlanta, became the theater’s fourth Artistic Director. In his first season he launched several creative initiatives, including the production of A New Brain, the theater’s first musical, and its first second stage production, Dael Orlandersmith’s one-woman show The Gimmick. Under his leadership, PCS received the largest gift in the theater’s history at that time—a $1.35 million, three-year grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust. In the 2003-2004 season, PCS expanded the number of productions from six to seven and began presenting works in both the Winningstad and Newmark Theatres.

In April 2004 the company announced a $32.9 million capital campaign to build a new theater complex in the historic Portland Armory building. The new facility houses a 590-seat the U.S. Bank Main Stage; 190-seat Ellyn Bye Studio; administrative offices; a rehearsal hall; and production facilities.

The Armory opened to the public with a community celebration on October 1, 2006.

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About PCS

Portland Center Stage at The Armory inspires our community by bringing stories to life in unexpected ways. It is the largest theater company in Portland and among the top 20 regional theaters in the country. Established in 1988 as a branch of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the company became independent in 1994 and has been under the leadership of Artistic Director Chris Coleman since 2000. Around 150,000 visitors attend The Armory annually to enjoy a mix of classical, contemporary and world premiere productions, along with the annual JAW: A Playwrights Festival, and a variety of high quality education and community programs. Home to two theaters, The Armory was the first building on the National Register of Historic Places — and the first performing arts venue in the country — to achieve a LEED Platinum rating.